Lehigh Valley Hospital celebrates lobby renovation

Registered nurses Linda Marks, left, and Maureen Shaughnessy-Toy sign the final structural beam for the new lobby at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township before the beam is hoisted into place. Express-Times Photo | MATT SMITH

Employees and officials signed a steel beam before it was hoisted into place to complete the frame of the main lobby addition, which will allow space for a new welcome desk and an area for patients and visitors to safely wait for rides, officials said.

The renovations are scheduled to be finished in the fall.

Hospital officials say the changes will make it easier for patients and visitors to enter the building, find their destination inside the hospital and feel comfortable while they wait for a ride.

Construction fencing has been installed outside. During renovations, patients can still be dropped off at the front door, which will remain open. However, two driving lanes are closed on the exiting half of the circular road in front of the main entrance. Inside, temporary walls have been installed to isolate construction work from pedestrian traffic.

A temporary welcome desk is located to the right of the main entrance, hospital officials said.

Eventually, patients and visitors will enter and exit the hospital through the new addition while new entryways and a larger canopy are installed. The new entryways include a two-chamber revolving door, and two double wide doors with a chamber between them. Those doors – coupled with upgrades to the lobby’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system – will make the air temperature in the lobby more comfortable, according to hospital officials.